1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an IP telephony network using a configuration map for organizing sites in a tree-like hierarchy. The present invention specifically relates to the management of the addition to, removal from and movement of IP telephony elements within an IP telephony network. The present invention further relates to the locating of services and IP telephony elements within the IP telephony network.
2. Description of Background Art
An IP telephony network may generally be composed of a number sites or “campuses.” Each site may have any number of interconnected servers, switches, extensions and/or trunks, all of which make up the network. Managing these sites, servers, switches, extensions and/or trunks (“IP telephony elements”) in an IP telephony network can be difficult and time and resource intensive, especially as the number of IP telephony elements expands. Managing a network requires the ability to, among other things, handle the addition, removal and movement of sites, servers, switches, extensions and/or trunks within an IP telephony network in such a manner so that services and IP telephony elements may be located when needed within the network.
In some implementations in the prior art, the mere addition of an extension to the network, for example, involves much greater administrative efforts and resources. Specifically, any time an extension is added to the network, all switches and servers in the network have to be updated to reflect the addition of the new extension. This requires significant memory, computational resources and administrative efforts to manage. Further, as the number of IP telephony elements in the network expands, the network does not easily scale.
In other implementations in the prior art, not all switches and servers have to be updated as a result of an addition of a new extension. However, in such other implementations, locating an extension within the network, for example, requires use of router services located at a single (primary) server located at a headquarter site. Because all switches in the network have to consult the single primary server in order to locate an extension or trunk, the result is often a bottleneck at the headquarter site. Even worse, if the connection to the headquarter site is down or if the primary server is down, the network becomes inoperable since locator services are only provided by the single primary server located at the headquarter site. Further, as the number of IP telephony elements increases, the prior art implementation is not scalable since there is a limit to the number of switches a single primary server can support.
As with the addition of an extension to an IP telephony network, the same problems exist in the prior art with the removal or movement of an extension and the addition, removal or movement of a trunk, switch, server and/or site within an IP telephony network. Specifically, either all switches and servers have to be updated with the addition, removal or movement of one IP telephony element in the network, or if not all switches and servers need be updated upon the addition, removal or movement of one element, then services can only be obtained from a single primary server located at a single headquarter site. Thus, the prior art implementations are not scalable. Further, in the prior art, the administration of the IP telephony elements is cumbersome and resource and time intensive, and the location of the IP telephony elements and services within an IP telephony network not robust.